cover image Vancouver in the Seventies: Photos from a Decade That Changed the City

Vancouver in the Seventies: Photos from a Decade That Changed the City

Kate Bird. Greystone (PGW, U.S. dist.; UTP, Canadian dist.), $29.95 (168p) ISBN 978-1-77164-240-8

This striking pictorial history offers insightful views of Vancouver, B.C., and the issues with which its citizens were wrestling year by year during the 1970s, a decade of social upheaval. Bird, who helped manage the archives of the Vancouver Sun newspaper for 25 years and drew from them for her book Making Headlines, chose 149 black and white photographs from the Sun archives that cover politics, protest, sports, arts, tragedy, the environment, and much more. Aside from brief introductory reflections from author and artist Douglas Coupland, journalist Shelley Fralic, and Bird herself, Bird largely allows the images (shot by the newspaper’s photographers in the course of their everyday assignments) to speak for themselves, delivering fabulous glimpses of fashions and images that epitomize the era. Readers who are not from the West Coast will find plenty of familiar faces, including concert photos of Mick Jagger, Tina Turner, and Rod Stewart; Jane Fonda protesting with American draft dodgers against the Vietnam War; Muhammad Ali in his fight with George Chuvalo; former prime minister Pierre Trudeau just after his wedding to Vancouverite Margaret Sinclair; and one of Mrs. Trudeau holding future prime minister Justin Trudeau’s hand when he was five years old. (Oct.)